meirman wrote:
This is about about my car heater fan. It's not really about home or
electronics repair, but I think you will be able to help me, and I'd
appreciate it.

Can I regrease my electric switch? And if so, what should I use to
remove the old grease? And more importantly, what sort of grease
should I then use to regrease this 12 volt switch?

I have white grease, lithium grease, ball joint etc. grease (in a
grease gun), some wheel bearing grease, "bicycle" grease in a tube by
Schwinn, and maybe one more kind. I even have Crisco. Or I can
buy something new.



My '95 Chrysler heater/AC fan speed switch no longer works in position
2,

That is the answer to your question. It is not the switch that is bad,
it is a resistor that is gone. They tend to fail one at a time.

On some cars the resistors are built into the switch and in others there
is a separate resistor pack. You need to replace what ever has the
resistors in it. I don't recommend trying to replace the resistor, just buy
the pack or switch.

Note: Often this happens when the blower fan motor is starting to wear
out. If it were mine and unless it is easy to get to that resistor pack, I
would replace the motor and the resistor pack. If you can get to the
resistor pack easily, and you can on some cars, I might try just that, but I
suspect you will find it going out again in a matter of months.


the one I use most often. A new replacement is very expensive**.
I'm told the other speeds will fail soon.

With the switch dissassembled, it looks fine. There is some old
grease on the contacts, now darker than new, but was brown and shiny
when new. It is now, at least on the surfaces of the grease, a little
bit harder than new, but when I push aside the grease with a wooden
match stick stem, the copper contact underneath shows no burning or
anything unusual. It's not as shiny as new, but I didn't think that
would matter, since I'm sure the other three speeds aren't either.

I thought just mixing up the grease would be enough, and sure enough,
the meter had shown infinity but now showed almost zero resistance,
well under an ohm.. After reassembly it still tested good (with the
low current used by meters) but after reinstallation, again the second
position of the switch didn't work, not enough to power the fan
(though the separate resistor that is used to lower the voltage to get
a lower than max fan speed.)


**The switch is not sold separately and a whole new control panel
costs 150 or 250 dollars. If I buy from a junkyard, I'm told it will
probably already not work for the same reason mine doesn't.


What should I do?

Thanks for any help.

Meirman

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit